BIOGRAPHY
Recent highlights include the Performance Prize awarded by the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music in Spain (INAEM), and the release of his first recording project Five Verses with the 4 times Grammy Award nominated label, IBS Classical. This album highlights the relationship between music and poetry through the pairing of saxophone and piano or saxophone and electronics.
Carlos Zaragoza is a Spanish saxophonist recognized for the breadth of his artistic vision and his commitment to expanding the expressive possibilities of the instrument. His work moves fluidly between solo performance, chamber music, recording projects, and contemporary creation.
He has performed internationally in countries such as France, Spain, South Korea, and Belgium. He has appeared in notable venues and festivals including Salle Cortot (Paris), Auditorio de Zaragoza, and the Festival France Musique Occitanie Montpellier. As a soloist, he has collaborated with ensembles such as the Orchestre Lutetia, the Castilla-La Mancha Symphony Orchestra, and Ensemble Kammart.
His album Five Verses, created with pianist Kishin Nagai, presents an intimate musical narrative bringing together original works, transcriptions, and contemporary compositions. Conceived as a sequence of “sonic verses,” the recording explores the poetic dimension of sound and highlights the expressive possibilities of the saxophone within a refined chamber dialogue.
Alongside his activity as a soloist, Carlos is a member of the Gaman Ensemble, a saxophone quartet with which he recorded an album dedicated to Spanish music. The recording offers a musical journey through the influence of French aesthetics on Spanish composition over the last century, reflecting the ensemble’s commitment to exploring and renewing the saxophone repertoire.
Carlos Zaragoza has received numerous international distinctions, including First Prize at the Andorra SaxFest International Competition, First Honor Prize at the Léopold Bellan International Competition (Paris), Second Prize at the Adolphe Sax International Competition in Paris, and the First Prize for Musical Performance awarded by INAEM and the Colegio de España in Paris.
Deeply engaged with contemporary music, he has collaborated with composers such as Félix Ibarrondo, Luis Naón, Orlando Bass, Vincent David, and Oriol Saladrigues, participating in the creation and premiere of new works. His commitment to expanding the repertoire has also led him to develop his own arrangements, including a version for solo saxophone of Les Folies d’Espagne by Marin Marais, published by Éditions Henry Lemoine.
Alongside his performing career, Carlos Zaragoza is Professor of saxophone at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón (CSMA) in Zaragoza.
Carlos is an official ambassador of Henri Selmer Paris saxophones, and he is also supported by the Fondation Tarrazi and the Fondation Meyer.